We’re looking forward to introducing you to Mia Liana Garcia. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Mia Liana, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I am wandering! I’ve never been the type to have a 5 year plan, because I actually don’t even have a today plan. I wake up with no idea where I’ll end up by night time. So I definitely never know what I’m doing next in life. I kind of just go wherever my impulses take me. If an idea really catches me, and it feels right, I just commit without much hesitation. While it feels like my life has moved in little zig zags and spirals because of this, making decisions in this way is pretty gratifying. Not many what-ifs. There is a Butthole Surfers quote that I’ve always loved that says, “It’s better to regret something you have done than to regret something that you haven’t done.”
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am just a clueless girl who is really into science. I work in a medical research laboratory for a group that studies diabetes, and I’m the lowest in the scientist ranks. I don’t have a masters, a PhD, or any kind of title. I feel out of place a lot of the time because I lived a degenerate life before I got here. I bare minimumed my way through art school, coming to class on one thing or another the entire 4 years, then I spent 5 years as a line cook and working in a dispensary, and drinking like a fish with severe mental illness before I got into research. Science has allowed me to escape that life. It’s kind of this shiny, glittering world of opportunity where everything is exciting and fascinating. I like to think I have a childlike wonder and curiosity about it all. In my art practice, I’m using microscopes, plotting data, and replicating textbooks, but my work is not scientific in the least bit. It is aesthetically, of course, but not intellectually. To me, it’s about the experience of being like “I have no clue what’s going on.” In all aspects of life. I like the concept of using hard facts and data as a way to ground myself in reality, because I’m really just guessing most of the time. But I guess that’s what science actually is at its core.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
Alex and I have known each other since kindergarten, and he’s been my best friend since I was 16. We are literally two peas in a pod. A while back, we actually dated for some time, and he broke up with me because he recognized that I was not being true to myself even when I couldn’t recognize that. It was crazy being informed that I’m gay… by my boyfriend haha. But he was right! Even crazier that he’s been my number one supporter through everything after that. The unconditional love Alex has for me has changed me for the better. Both of us have hurt each other deeply, and forgiven each other too. He has seen the ugliest and most lovely parts of me throughout our lives, and stuck around through all of it. I thought no one could ever love the “real” me, but this friendship has made me truly understand that that’s wrong. Like with everyone else, I tried to hide the parts of myself that I didn’t like from him for a long time. But now, I tell him everything – dating, sobriety, mental heath, family, everything funny that happens to me, everything good and bad. And none of it ever scares him away. It’s a lot easier to love yourself when you’ve got a friend who loves you as much as he does. Love ya, Sandman!
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
I would tell my little self that you don’t have to keep all those secrets! I’ve always been a very private person, even as a small child. I never told anyone how I was feeling or what I was going through. There are still people very, very close to me that don’t know the whole of who I am because of this flaw. It’s something I am just now starting to really work on. I let my secrets eat away at me for a long time, inflicting a lot of pain and damage, and holding me back from success and happiness. I always thought people wouldn’t love me anymore if I spilled my beans and showed them the real me. But now, I am realizing that I need to give people more credit. Someone once told me that I was being judgmental toward and unfair to my loved ones by assuming that they weren’t kind enough to care about me. It was kind of like a backwards compassionate thing to say, but it worked!
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
I believe in positive feedback cycles. When you are doing kind things for yourself and for others, and moving through the world with good intentions, I believe the world puts more positive opportunities and experiences in front of you. On the other hand, when you move through life with a lack of regard or malice in your heart, the world creates more negative opportunities and experiences to put in front of you. The path you lead yourself down is always lined with stepping stones that make it easier for you to continue down that way. I’ve believed in this since I was small, but I never articulated it until a couple weeks ago, actually. It’s essentially believing in good and evil just without the personifications. But it proves itself over and over and over. My friend recently decided to get sober, and within a week all these good things just started happening to him, spurring him to make more good decisions about his life. Positive feedback cycles!
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope that when I’m gone people tell two stories. The first would be times we laughed together. I love nothing more than laughing and making other people laugh. I think the point of being alive is to have a good time. I’m learning how to do that responsibly. But what better time can you have than laughing so hard you cry with your best buds? The second story I hope people tell is times I listened when they needed to be heard. I’m afraid I never shut up about this, but I think the most important part of being alive is human connection. Pulling feelings and experiences out of thin air just by talking to one another is the peak of the human experience. I realized when I was pretty young that it seemed like friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and complete strangers would constantly tell me their deepest troubles and secrets out of nowhere. At first I was like, “I didn’t ask for this.” But after people telling me I’m a good listener a million times, I started leaning into it. I kind of consider listening to be like a personal moral responsibility, and also lowkey my purpose in life. So I hope I’m remembered for that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mialianagarcia.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: @mia.lgarcia
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